LOUISVILLE, May 16 -- Sen. John McCain, once derided as one of the "premier flag-carriers for the enemies of the Second Amendment" by the National Rifle Association, enthusiastically embraced the group's pro-gun agenda at its annual convention here Friday.

In front of a crowd of about 6,000 people who gave him two standing ovations, McCain also mocked Democratic Sen. Barack Obama as a liberal, anti-gun politician and made a direct appeal to the "bitter" voters Obama said were clinging to their "guns or religion" to soothe concerns about their economic struggles.

"The Second Amendment isn't some archaic custom that matters only to rural Americans who find solace in firearms out of frustration with their economic circumstances," McCain said.

McCain, who is viewed with suspicion among many gun owners because of his efforts to reform campaign finance laws and his decade-long battle with the NRA over background checks at gun shows, sought to mollify his conservative critics by declaring fealty to the Second Amendment. The presumptive GOP nominee did not abandon his support for background checks, but he tried to cast his disagreements with the NRA as isolated cases separate from otherwise solid support for gun rights.

"For more than two decades, I've opposed efforts to ban guns, ban ammunition, ban magazines and dismiss gun owners as some kind of fringe group unwelcome in 'modern' America," McCain said. The Second Amendment, he said, "guarantees an individual right to keep and bear arms. To argue anything else is to reject the clear meaning of our Founding Fathers."

The NRA appearance continued the political Ping-Pong game that is McCain's campaign, as he seeks to distance himself from President Bush and his party one day and then court the conservative Republican base the next.

Last week's pledge to appoint conservative jurists was followed quickly by Monday's break with Republican orthodoxy on global warming. On Thursday, he vowed to end "hyper-partisanship" and work with Democrats, but on Friday, he joined Oliver North, Karl Rove and Mike Huckabee as a featured speaker at the gun show.

It is a delicate and deliberate balancing act that aides say is designed to reinforce the maverick brand that separates McCain from the rest of his party without angering the traditional core of conservative Republicans. McCain's top strategists say that their candidate will not win in November merely by rallying the GOP base but that he cannot win without it, either.

Key to running against Obama, they say, is attracting white working-class Democrats -- many of whom are gun owners -- to the Republican column. "We're not trying to get a majority of blue-collar Democrats. But if McCain were to get, say, 20 percent nationally of blue-collar Democrats, he wins," McCain senior adviser Charlie Black told reporters recently. But, he added: "We know we have to unify our base and get them to turn out."

Democrats responded quickly to the event, accusing McCain of seeking the blessing of the NRA for crassly political reasons. McCain "definitely has his full pander on in Louisville today," said Democratic National Committee spokesman Damien LaVera.

At the gun show, Huckabee, a former rival for the Republican nomination who is known for his sense of humor, made an awkward joke after hearing a loud sound during his speech. He quipped, "That was Barack Obama. He just tripped off a chair. He's getting ready to speak and somebody aimed a gun at him and he -- he dove for the floor."

During his speech, McCain ridiculed Obama's knowledge of guns and hunting by quoting a recent comment Obama made about using a "six-shooter" in a duck blind. "Someone should tell Senator Obama that ducks are usually hunted with shotguns," McCain said to laughter and applause.

McCain accused Obama and Democratic Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton of hiding their true stripes by avoiding any mention of gun-control measures they support as they campaign. "If either Senator Clinton or Senator Obama is elected president, the rights of law-abiding gun owners will be at risk," McCain told NRA members.

But McCain himself is viewed with alarm by plenty of gun owners and many in the gun-rights leadership. In 2001, he championed efforts in several states to close the gun-show loophole that allows firearms to be purchased at the shows without background checks.

His starring appearance in several television ads on behalf of gun-control referendums, and his later sponsorship of a federal gun-show bill, caused the NRA to label him an enemy of gun rights and liberal groups to proclaim him one of their favorite lawmakers.

"John McCain was our number one hero," said Jim Kessler, a founder of Americans for Gun Safety, a gun-control group for which McCain filmed a movie trailer and for which his campaign manager, Rick Davis, was a consultant.

"They were bitter enemies, the NRA and John McCain," Kessler said. "They spent month after month just going after him."

In 2001, upset about the effect McCain's campaign finance reform would have on the NRA's ability to influence elections, former NRA head Wayne LaPierre, according to the Louisville Courier-Journal, asked NRA members: "Is it possible that John McCain thinks you have too much freedom?"
This week, however, LaPierre seemed to have put the matter behind him. "I guess we'll just have to agree to disagree on those."

Campaigning in West Virginia before the NRA speech, McCain said that he wholeheartedly supports the NRA and its goals and that he is looking forward to again receiving the group's endorsement.

"We've had a disagreement on the gun-show loophole. That is a specific disagreement on an aspect that I believe was a way for people who shouldn't acquire weapons or guns to do so," he said.

In his speech, McCain vowed to protect the rights of gun owners by appointing judges and Supreme Court justices who would respect the wishes of the nation's founders.

"The only difference between a tax man and a taxidermist is that the taxidermist leaves the skin."

[FONT=Verdana, Tahoma, Arial]quote:[/FONT] <HR>Obama supports extending the assault weapons ban, limits on gun sales, and a national law against carrying concealed weapons, with exceptions for retired police and military personnel. John McCain – whose legislative record was awarded a C+ rating by the NRA in 2004, but has received a perfect score – will address the group later Friday afternoon. His speech will include remarks "on the issue of unconditional negotiation with state sponsors of terror" that aides tell CNN’s Dana Bash are a direct response to Obama’s comments earlier Friday​

"The only difference between a tax man and a taxidermist is that the taxidermist leaves the skin."

Gun-Show Bill Is Not What They Say
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, san-serif]Alan Korwin, Author Gun Laws of America[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, san-serif]Re: S. 890, The McCain-Lieberman Bill: "Gun Show Loophole Closing and Gun Law Enforcement Act of 2001."[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, san-serif]Mass media publicity on the newly proposed gun-show bill is grossly inaccurate.[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, san-serif]The bill has almost nothing to do with what you've probably heard so far. The so-called "gun-show loophole" headlines are a minor detail and basically obscure what the bill really does.[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, san-serif]I've just finished studying the eight pages of legalese. Here is it what it calls for:[/FONT][FONT=Arial, Helvetica, san-serif]1. [/FONT][FONT=Arial, Helvetica, san-serif]Unprecedented federal control over gun shows nationwide -- perfectly legal gun shows become strictly outlawed without prior federal approval, licensing and registration of each show;[/FONT][FONT=Arial, Helvetica, san-serif]2.[/FONT][FONT=Arial, Helvetica, san-serif] Centralized federal licensing and registration of every gun-show promoter in the nation;[/FONT][FONT=Arial, Helvetica, san-serif]3. [/FONT][FONT=Arial, Helvetica, san-serif]Centralized federal registration of every vendor -- including non-gun vendors -- at any gun show in the country. In order for me to sell my BOOKS at a gun show I'll have to pre-register and prove who I am, or face arrest; a private individual looking to sell a single gun would be treated as a vendor under this law and must be registered even if the gun isn't sold;[/FONT][FONT=Arial, Helvetica, san-serif]4. [/FONT][FONT=Arial, Helvetica, san-serif]Centralized federal registration of EVERY PERSON who attends a gun show in America, whether or not they make purchases of anything at all -- you won't be allowed in without registering;[/FONT][FONT=Arial, Helvetica, san-serif]5. [/FONT][FONT=Arial, Helvetica, san-serif]Centralized collection of "any other information" on gun-show attendees, as determined solely by the Secretary of the Treasury;[/FONT][FONT=Arial, Helvetica, san-serif]6. [/FONT][FONT=Arial, Helvetica, san-serif]Imprisonment for attending a gun show and failing to give up any information required by regulations of the Secretary of the Treasury;[/FONT][FONT=Arial, Helvetica, san-serif]7. [/FONT][FONT=Arial, Helvetica, san-serif]Imprisonment of any gun-show promoter who fails to register a single vendor;[/FONT][FONT=Arial, Helvetica, san-serif]8. [/FONT][FONT=Arial, Helvetica, san-serif]Imprisonment of gun-show promoters who cannot prove they notified every person attending a gun show of the new rules, and obtained from attendees any information the Secretary of the Treasury mandates by regulation;[/FONT][FONT=Arial, Helvetica, san-serif]9. [/FONT][FONT=Arial, Helvetica, san-serif]Centralized collection of "any other information" the Secretary of the Treasury decides, by regulation, is necessary on vendors, attendees, and the gun show itself;[/FONT][FONT=Arial, Helvetica, san-serif]10. [/FONT][FONT=Arial, Helvetica, san-serif]Submission by gun-show promoters of vendor registration logs a) 30 days before any gun show, and b) additional submission of updated vendor registration logs 72 hours before any gun show, and c) additional submission of vendor registration logs within five days of the close of any gun show, under penalty of arrest and imprisonment for non-compliance;[/FONT][FONT=Arial, Helvetica, san-serif]11. [/FONT][FONT=Arial, Helvetica, san-serif]Identification of vendors only by use of federally approved photo ID that may include use of a social security number, electronically encoded data, or "biometric identifiers" such as fingerprint, voice print, retina scan, iris scan, or similar (as defined under 18 USC 1028(d)(2));[/FONT][FONT=Arial, Helvetica, san-serif]12. [/FONT][FONT=Arial, Helvetica, san-serif]Creation of a new license (in addition to a gun-show-promoter license), similar to FFLs, for individuals who want access to the NICS national background check system for facilitating gun-show sales for private citizens;[/FONT][FONT=Arial, Helvetica, san-serif]13. [/FONT][FONT=Arial, Helvetica, san-serif]Regulations to be issued by the Secretary of the Treasury on the procedures, data collections, methods and implementation of the entire process to federally control gun shows, in addition to the requirements made by the proposed statute; such regulations will not be known, drafted or even suggested, until after the McCain-Lieberman law is enacted;[/FONT][FONT=Arial, Helvetica, san-serif]14. [/FONT][FONT=Arial, Helvetica, san-serif]The proposed bill also puts pressure on state governments to make at least 95% of their law enforcement records for the past 30 years openly available to the federal government; and[/FONT]

[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, san-serif]makes unlimited funds available for the states to comply with these federal goals;[/FONT]

[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, san-serif]grants states permission to make even more restrictive requirements without being out of compliance with these new federal laws (and by implication, puts states that resist these rules in federal trouble);[/FONT]

[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, san-serif]provides hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars for more law enforcement under numerous programs including project Exile and others;[/FONT]

[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, san-serif]provides $10 million to the National Institute for Justice to give out for research on "technologies that limit the use of a gun to the owner"; and[/FONT]

[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, san-serif]provides for annual reports (in great detail) by the Attorney General to Congress on whether the Brady law is working;[/FONT]

[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, san-serif]15. [/FONT][FONT=Arial, Helvetica, san-serif]Enlargement of the federal bureaucracy and appropriation from taxpayers of "such funds as are necessary" to license, register and monitor an estimated ten million non-criminals who attend the thousands of gun shows held annually in America; and[/FONT][FONT=Arial, Helvetica, san-serif]16. [/FONT][FONT=Arial, Helvetica, san-serif]Oh yes, I almost forgot about the so-called "loophole" part the media is so excited about -- the McCain-Lieberman bill will make an honest private citizen a criminal for transferring a gun to another honest private citizen, without first registering the transfer with, and getting permission from, the federal government (represented by the FBI at its data complex in Clarksburg, West Virginia).[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, san-serif]Transfer or possession of a firearm to or by a criminal (a "federally prohibited possessor") is completely unaffected by the McCain-Lieberman "loophole" bill, so I guess it's accurate to characterize it as a loophole bill.[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, san-serif]To sum up: Perfectly legal gun sales -- with no victims or criminal activity of any kind -- are outlawed at gun shows by the McCain-Lieberman bill, unless the sale is pre-registered with the federal government; real crimes are totally unaffected; and your friends in the federal government take over full control of gun shows -- which have been previously free of government infringement for more than 200 years.[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, san-serif]Please write your local news outlet and politely request a correction.[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, san-serif]Permission to circulate or use any or all of this report is granted, provided my credit and contact information is included.[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, san-serif]Alan Korwin, Author Gun Laws of America[/FONT][FONT=Arial, Helvetica, san-serif]alan@gunlaws.com[/FONT][FONT=Arial, Helvetica, san-serif]http://www.gunlaws.com "We publish the gun laws."[/FONT]

Yea it just gives me a warm and fuzzy feeling about how he will protect our RIGHTS.

OGM

I would rather be exposed to the inconveniences attending too much liberty than to those attending too small a degree of it.